More young people and coaches have taken part in rugby competitions and workshops with Leeds Rhinos Foundation over the last three months through the charity’s Rugby League Development Plan.
School Competitions
Schools throughout Leeds do a fantastic job to develop and promote Rugby League and this work is proudly supported by Leeds Rhinos Foundation, who recognise the contribution that school rugby plays in the pathway to creating the next generation of players.
104 girls competed in secondary school competitions and 227 girls at Primary School have taken part in either Tag Qualifiers and Finals, or the new RugBees programme. At secondary school level, 645 boys took part in the Rhinos 9s competition.
Over 104 players also took part in our Year 7, 8 and 9 competitions in Oldham.
Ahead of the new academic year, we have seen a great number of team entries for next year’s school competitions. Already, we have 113 team entries for girls’ competitions, and 162 for boys.
Coach Development
As well as the participation of players, the charity has also focused on upskilling coaches, with 82 coaches attending workshops and a further 41 coaches receiving outreach CPD provision. There has been further opportunity for aspiring coaches to get bespoke development on the North vs South programme. 30 coaches have completed their level one qualifications and 38 have received their level two.
Rhinos Talent Pathway
The new-look player Talent Pathway development programme, which is linked to the RFL’s Lion’s Development Programme initiative, aims to increase the number of quality rugby league players aged between 12 and 16 and will be the driving force behind providing a clear pathway from the grassroots game into Scholarship, Academy rugby and beyond.
Our Development Days are also part of the programme and give young, aspiring players around the city a chance to develop their skills, learning from our fully qualified coaches.
The Rhinos Talent Pathway (RTP) continues to go from strength to strength, with over 500 players taking part in RTP activity.
Throughout the Summer Holidays we have several RTP sessions taking place for the young, aspiring, female players throughout the city and beyond. To sign up to these sessions, click the links below.
Girls RTP Summer schedule
Tuesday 8th August
U13s-14s – https://bit.ly/45kHgkH
15s-16s – https://bit.ly/3Wqb2QR
Tuesday 22nd August
U10-12s – https://bit.ly/42Yx1kw
Tuesday 29th August
U13s-14s – https://bit.ly/3BNS3Gp
15s-16s – https://bit.ly/3MNXDPq
For more information on our Girls RTP Summer sessions, please contact lois.forsell@leedsrhinosfoundation.org
Taster Sessions
This quarter, the Foundation have continued running our ever-popular Taster Session, with the aim of increasing the number of players attending community clubs in the area.
Since the start of the quarter, we have seen approximately 143 players attending our sessions, in partnership with clubs in both Leeds and Oldham.
Darren Higgins, Rugby League Development Manager at Leeds Rhinos Foundation, said: “It has been a strong end to the Academic year for the Rugby League Development delivery and we are pleased with the number of players coming through and engaging with our programmes.”
“The initiatives we have in place now are a good foundation for us to support the game at grassroots level, not only through the development of players by offering opportunities for them to play and be coached, but it also shows our commitment to helping coaches upskill and progress their coaching ambitions.”
“We have an exciting summer of rugby coming up, with more RTP sessions and the North vs South games. Plus we have camps coming up for young children to give the sport a try. I would like to thank clubs and schools for their buy-in for the Rugby League Development Plan. It is great to see all areas of the game coming together and working towards the same goals, which can only help strengthen the game in our city.”